Support of 68,000 to 136,000 Dram to the Most Affected Sectors' Salaried Workers

The government will provide support to salaried workers and individual entrepreneurs in the private sector who have been most affected by the spread of the coronavirus. Specifically, this pertains to workers in the hotel and guesthouse, public catering, tourism, hairdressing and beauty salons, and retail services sectors.

According to the project, retail services that sell food, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, or alcoholic beverages do not fall under the affected sector. Salaried workers will be eligible if they have been employed in the aforementioned affected sectors between March 13 and March 30, 2020, as reported by news.am.

“The support is provided as a one-time payment. For salaried workers, it is calculated at 50% of the average monthly salary for January and February 2020, but not less than the minimum wage of 68,000 Dram and not more than double the minimum wage (136,000 Dram), if the worker's average monthly salary exceeds the minimum wage,” said the Prime Minister's assistant, Nairi Sargsyan.

For individual entrepreneurs, the support amount will be calculated based on 10% of the turnover from sales in the fourth quarter of 2019. In this case, the support should also be no less than the minimum wage and no more than double the minimum wage.

Sargsyan noted that this support is directed not at employers, but at salaried workers. “People will receive the support directly, not through intermediaries from their employers. We will not calculate taxes, this is cash that they will receive directly. The total number of beneficiaries exceeds 100,000, and the total budget exceeds 10 billion Dram,” he stated.

The support will be provided based on an application submitted electronically by the beneficiary on the website www.online.ssa.am starting from April 9. People can apply through this website, and the system will immediately respond regarding their eligibility. If eligible, they will be asked to provide their bank account number, and the funds will be transferred to their account within 1-2 days.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan mentioned that this concerns about 127,000 beneficiaries, but the data still needs to be verified.